Button-assembling dies



Nov. s, 1927. 1,648,495

M. MENKIN BUTTON ASSEMBLING DIES Filed May 14. 1926 2 sheetslsheez 1INVENTOR BY i qaok EY l M. MENKIN BUTTON ASSEMBLING DIES Nov. 8, 1927.1,648,495

Filed May 14. 192s 2 sheets-sheet 2 15 l l 1' 3 2i 'l' g 1 INVENTORVPatented Nov. 8, 1927.

, Unir-sn STATES MAX MENKIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BUTTON-ASSEMBLING pins.

A Application filed May le,

This invention relates to button assembling dies, and has for itsprimary object to provide` an improved die for assembling the partsot'covered buttons whereby quantity production may be greatly expeditedand the parts accurately assembled with a less number ot' operations ofthe die mechanism and less manual labor than heretofore required.

To the above end, my present improvements are essentially characterizedin that there is provided the usual upper and lower die members while inconjunction with such die members 1 employ a reversible die memf ber. lnother words, this die member is adapted to be operatively arrangedbetween the upper and lower die members in` different operations ofthedevice with either end o'lf said intermediate die member in opposedrelation to said upper and lower die members.

More particularly, it is the purpose of my present improvements toprovide the intern'iediate reversible die member with oppo- 25 site endportions which are of identically the saine construction but which will,nevertheless, properly cooperate in either posi- .tion the reversibledie member with the upper and lower die members with which it isarranged and in conjunction therewith will assemble the parts of thebutton with the covering material securely confined thereon. lVith theabove and other objects in view, the invention .consists in the improvedbuttonassembling diea and in the form7 construction and relativearrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, illustrated in the accompanying drawings andsubsequentlyincorporated in i0 the subjoined claim.

In the drawings, wherein 1 have illustrated one simple and practicalembodimentoi` the invention, and in which similar reference charactersdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views,-j-

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view illustrating .the initial step inassembling the parts of the button; j

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the next succeeding operation with'oneot the button parts shaped to its iinal form;

.l Figs. 3 and lare views corresponding with Figs.` 1 and 2.andillustrating the assemblage of the; parts constituting the other half ofthe button; l

. Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sectional views i928. 4serial No. 109,025.

showing` the assemblage of theltwov'halves or' `the button with eachother, and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail sectional View of the assembled button. tReferring in detail to the drawings7 5 designates a suitable "base inwhich the lower end of a vertically disposed spindle 6 is suitablyfixed. Upon this spindle the die member hereinafter referred to as thelower die, Ais loosely engaged for vertical movement. The spindle 6 isprovided in one side thereof with a longitudinally extending groove orlreyway 8 .in which the end of a screw 9 threadedlin the hub of the diemember 7 is engaged to limit the upward movement of said die memberYunder the action ,or lthe coil spring 10. In the normal position ofthis die member it will be observed that the upper vend of the spindle 6proti-udes intoacentral cavityv 11 of the die member which is surroundedby a horizontal. shoulder 12, said shoulder in turn being surrounded ybythe upstanding flange 13.

. rllhe complementary upper diev member 14: is vertically movable upon aspindle 15in axial alignment with the Spindle 6j said spindie 15however, being mounted lin a movable arm or other part indicated at 16which is operated by a foot treadle, or power mecha.- nisin as desired.This spindle is likewise provided with a keyway 17 torece'ive a'stopscrew l18 carried by the die member .and whereby movement of said, diemember relative to the spindle is properly limited.

One end ot a latch arm 19 is pivotally connected in any suitable manneras at 20 with the spindle 15 above the die member 14. The lower end ofsaid die member' is itoimed with portions or successively reduceddiameters providing outer and inner annular` shoulders 21 and 22respectively thereon7 the purpose of which will be hereinafter reerredto. F or the particular lrind of button which Vthe mechanism is designedto assemble, the upper end of the spindle 6 is provided with a convexend Jrace 23 whileV the lspindle 15 at its lower end has a complementaryconcave end tace 2li, said latter spindle` being also provided with anaxial bore 25 j communicating with the cavity'2l.r

In conjunction with-` the lower die member 7 and the upper die member147 a separate reversible die member is adapted to be used. This latterdie member generally indicated at 28 has an axially extending bore 29terminating at each of its ends'in a bevel or flare 30. Each end of saiddie'member is likewise provided with a horizontal shoulder 31surrounding said bevel and an annular longitudinally projecting flangeV32 at the outer side of said shoulder. Said die member is furtherprovided at each of its ends with a laterally extending annular flange33. lVithin the bore 29 of the die member 28 a rod 34 of `appreciablyless length than the length of said bore is loosely engaged for slidingmovement, such sliding movement of said rod in each direction beinglimited by the screw 35 threaded in said die member and engaged at itsinner end in the longitudinal groove 36 provided in one side of saidrod. `This rod at each of its ends is also formed with a concaved face87.

As shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, the but-tonconsists of a cup-shapedsheet metal front section 88 having an imperforate wall and a similarsheet metal back section 39 of larger diameter, the wall of which iscentra-lly provided with the opening 40. Each of these sheetmetalsections is adapted to be covered by the fabric material indicated at 41and 42 respectively, and in the assemblage of the two metal Yparts aswill be pres ently enplained, the edges of the covering material 42 onthe back section 39 of the button are vturned inwardly around the edgeof the wall of said back section and said covering material and the edgeof the met-al wall are bent inwardly and clinched upon the rearwardlyprojecting edge of thefrout section 38 of the button and the coveringmaterial thereon. The two sections of the button with the sheets of thecovering mate rial are assembled in the following manner bymeans of the.die mechanism above described'.

Initially, one of t-he front'metal button sections 38 is arranged uponthe upper end ofthe spindle 6 within the cavity 11 of the die member 7and t-he disc of covering material 41 is then placed over said cavitywith its edge resting upon the horizontal shoul der 12 of the diemember. rlhe reversible die member 28 is then arranged `with `one of itsends seated upon the upper end of the lower die member 7 the flange 32on the end of said reversible die member fitting within the flange 13 ofthe die member 7 as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The upperdie Ymember `14 may then be moved downwardly upon the upper end of thedie member 28 or if desired, the latter die member may be forceddownwardly by hand pressure so that t-he lower die member `7 is moveddownwardly on the spindle 6 against the action of the spring 10`. As aresult thereof,

the metallic button sections 38, together with the covering material 41are forced upwardly into the bore of the die member 28, the rod 84 inthe latter die member moving in said bore to the position shown in Fig.2 of the drawings where it will be noted that the concave face 37 at oneend of'said rod constitutes substantially a continuation of the beveledor flared surface 30 on the end of the diemember 28. The button sectionand in the notch27 of the latch arm 19 so that y said die member-cannotmove axially with respect to the `spindle 15. As shown in Fig. 4 of thedrawings, as the die member 14 is forced downwardly from` the positionshown in Fig. 3, the said button section 42 and the covering materialare forced upwardly into the bore 25 of said upper die member so that'the covering materialis `folded smoothly over said metal section andforced into the cavity 24 on the lower end of the spindle 15. The bore25 prevents any cushioning effect by such air as may be contained withinthe lower end of the bore of the die member. Thus, it will be understoodthat the frontsection 88 with` the covering material 41 therein is nowcontained in one end of the die member 28, while the back section 39 ofthebutton with the covering material thereoniscontained within the boreofthe upper ,die member 14.

In the next operation, another front lsection 38 is arranged on post 6and a covering disc 41 disposed in the upper end of thev die member 7and the die member 28 is now again arranged upon said die member 7 butin the reverse position to that which it formerly occupied, or in otherwords, it is turned end for end. The upper die member 14 containing thecovered section 39 of` the button is then again forced downwardly7 andinthis downward movement of said die member, Vas it comes intoengagement wth the upper end of the die member 28, the lower end of thelato-harm 19 strikes the upper flange 33 on the die member 28 anddisengages said latch arm from the flange 26 on the die member 14.Thereafter, the spindle 15 moves downwardly through the die member 14until the edge of the button secr tion' 39 engages the beveled or flaredface 8() on the die member 28, at which .time the two die members 14 and28 together with l.'

the lower die member 7 fare moved downwardly as a unit on the spindle 6so that the button section 38 on the upper end of said spindle with thecovering sheet 4l is forced upwardly against the lower end of rod 36 inthe die member 28, thus forcing the button section 38 and its coveringmaterial engaged against the upper end of this rod upwardly in the bore29 as shown in Fig. 6 of the d awings Finally, there is an additionaldownward movement of spindle through the bore of the upper die memberlllso that the projecting edge of the cover ing material 42 on thebutton section 39 striking upon the inclined or flared` surface 30 isturned inwardly and the edge of said metal button section is also forcedinwardly into tight clamping engagement upon the edge of the coveredbutton section 3S, thus completing the assemblage of the button as shownin Fig. 7 of the drawings. It will be noted that in this finaloperation, the flange 32 on the Lipper end of die member 28 is seatedagainst the inner shoulder 22 of the die member 14, whereas in theoperation illustrated in Fig. 8, the outer shoulder 2l provides a seatfor the flange 13 on the lower die member 7 Thus, it will be seen thatalthough the opposite `ends of the reversible die member 28 are ofidentically the same construction, either one of said ends will properlycooperate with the differently formed ends of the upper and lower diemembers 7 and 14.

Since in the final operation shown in Fig.

G wherein the two covered parts of the button are assembled, anotherbutton part 38 with its covering material 4l is positioned in the boreof the die member 28, it will be apparent that thereafter, only the twooperations as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 will be required to complete theassemblage of each button.

In the button assembling devices of this hind now known in the art notprovided with my improved intermediate reversible die member, threeseparate and distinct operations are required to assemble the parts ofcach of the buttons. It will thus be evident that by m-eans of myinvention, quantity production of buttons of this type will be largelyincreased, while lat the same time manual labor will be appreoiablyreduced.

l have herein shown and described an embodiment of my invention whichhas given excellent results in practice. However, it is evident that itis possible by resorting to certain more or less obvious modification,to also utilize my present improvements for assembling the parts ofbuttons of other detail form than that particularly illustrated' ingtnelatter die member, a vertically movable spindle upon which 'the upperdie member is loosely mounted, means limiting the axial movement lofsaid die members relative to the respective spindles, latch means toprevent axial movement of the upper die member on its spindle when saiddie members are brought together whereby the button parts in the lowerdie member are projected by said fixed spindle into the bore of Itheupper die member, and a separate die member adapted to be reversiblypositioned between the upper and lower die members in differentassembling operations, said latter die member having a longitudinal boreand having opposite end portions of the same cross sectional form, 'eachincluding an inner annular beveled clinching'surface, said end portionsadapted to cooperatively engage the upper and lower die members, saidseparate die member being also provided at each of its ends with meansfor automatically releasing the latch means for the upper die member inthe downward movement thereof, and an element movable in the bore ofsaid separate die member -to project the button part therefrom, and saidseparate die member at each end having means one of which is adapted tobe engaged by the button part in the bore ofthe upper die member as itis forced downwardly by the movement of said upper spindle in said borewhereby said button party is contracted upon and assembled with thebutton part in the bore of said. separate die member.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name hereto.

MAX MENKIN.

